Study: Black pyramid traps catch more marmorated stink bugs

Brown marmorated stink bugs feed on a wide variety of crops, including apples.

Photo by Courtesy Agricultural Research Service

Baited black pyramid traps catch significantly more brown marmorated stink bugs than other styles of traps, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture trials.

The work was part of an effort to develop traps that will more accurately reflect stink bug populations, according to a news release.

In field trials in 2009 and 2010, Tracy Leskey, an Agricultural Research Service entomologist, and her colleagues found both adults and juveniles, or nymphs, were more attracted to baited black pyramid traps than other designs.

They also caught more adults and nymphs when the traps were on the ground rather than hung from tree limbs.

In addition to trap design, Leskey and the group also found that stink bugs produced two generations each year in Kearneyville, W.V.

That differs from the one generation annually reported in eastern Pennsylvania, a more northerly location.